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Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Edit Profile

lawyer planter Soldier statesman

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American statesman, a patriot leader and an emissary to France. He was twice the Federalist nominee for president.

Background

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born on February 25, 1746, in Charleston, South California.

Education

He was educated at Westminster School and Oxford.

Career

Destined for a legal career, he attended Middle Temple (1764 - 1769) and was admitted to practice. Despite his English residence, Pinckney regarded America as home, and he returned full of patriotic ardor. He served as attorney general for three South Carolina districts. His marriage to Sally Middleton strengthened his ties with the colony's leading families. Following the rupture with England, Pinckney was active on his colony's Committee of Intelligence. He became a militia captain and was chairman of the committee that drafted South Carolina's 1776 constitution. In July 1777 he tried to join George Washington's northern command, but no battlefield opportunities came his way, and Pinckney soon returned to South Carolina. When the British finally attacked Charleston, his bad advice led to a disastrous American defeat in May 1780 during which Pinckney himself was captured. After the war Pinckney veered toward a nationalistic course in his support of enlarged powers for the Continental Congress. He resumed his lucrative law practice, but his personal life was saddened in 1784 by his wife's death, which left him with three young daughters. Chosen as a delegate to the Federal Convention in 1787, Pinckney supported a stronger central government and was an adamant defender of slavery. He signed the Constitution and worked successfully for its ratification in his home state. Pinckney turned down an offer to become secretary of war in 1794 and later also rejected the secretary of state post. However, in 1796 he was persuaded to become the American minister in Paris, taking on the job of appeasing the French government's anger over Jay's Treaty. Pinckney's mission of reconciliation was early discredited by scheming French diplomats, and he was expelled in 1797. Later, under the new president, John Adams, Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry were appointed special envoys to heal the Franco-American breach. Steadily, Pinckney's political stance became more Federalist; in 1800 he was advanced as the party's vice-presidential candidate. He was the Federalist candidate for president in 1804 and 1808. Three successive defeats in elections ended his national ambitions. Thereafter, he devoted his energies to South Carolina's affairs, particularly education and philanthropy. He died on August 16, 1825.

Achievements

  • Castle Pinckney in Charleston Harbor, completed about 1810, Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge, Pinckney Elementary School in Lawrence, Kansas, are named for Charles C. Pinckney. A school in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, is also has the name of C. C. Pinckney Elementary. In 1942, during World War II, a 422-foot liberty ship was built in Wilmington, North Carolina, and named SS Charles C. Pinckney in his honor. Pinckney Street on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, Pinckney Street in Madison, Wisconsin and Pinckneyville, Illinois, were named after him.

Works

All works

Views

Quotations: “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute. ”

Membership

a member of the South Carolina Senate

Connections

In 1773, Pinckney married Sarah Middleton. Sarah died in 1784. In 1786, he remarried to Mary Stead, who came from a wealthy family of planters in Georgia. Pinckney had three daughters.

Father:
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

August 13, 1699 - July 12, 1758

Mother:
Eliza Pinckney (Lucas)

December 28, 1722 - May 28, 1793

Brother:
George Lucas Pinckney

1747 - 1747

Brother:
Thomas Pinckney

October 22, 1750 - November 2, 1828

Sister:
Henrietta Lucas Horry (Pinckney)

August 7, 1748 - December 19, 1830

Wife:
Mary Pinckney (Stead)

1750 - 1812

Wife:
Sarah Pinckney (Middleton)

July 5, 1756 - May 8, 1784

Daughter:
Maria Henrietta Andrews (Pinckney)

1777 - 1836

Daughter:
Eliza Izard (Pinckney)

1777 - 1851

Daughter:
Harriott Pinckney

17 December 1776 - 15 March 1866